


Fluff

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, M/M, WTF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3197426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On an away mission, everybody goes to bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fluff

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

Pavel’s probably not the only member of the away team that wants to groan when Captain Kirk commits them to a planet-side sleep, but he is the only one that does it aloud. Hikaru looks sideways at him, stifling a little smile, but Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Spock stay fixed on their alien host, who quivers with all forty-seven tentacles at hearing the “good” news. Xe then warbles with delight, telling hir three companions in a high-pitched squeal what the UT translates as, “I’ll show them to their sleeping chamber.”

Dr. McCoy turns to Mr. Spock and mouths, as far as Pavel can tell, ‘sleeping cham- _ber_?’ Mr. Spock continues staring forward ahead of Pavel, so there’s no indication of his return, but it does give Pavel the same thought: are they all going to bed together? So far the alien settlement has been one vast hollowed-out crystalline shell after another, with more than enough room to house each individual comfortably for every other task—they saw lone beings eating, dancing, swimming—but apparently, sleeping is different. 

On three particularly thick tentacles, their yellow lantern-like host leads them off down another rounded tunnel, lined in little glowing crystals that radiate heat. Captain Kirk heads off after, the tired landing party following, with Hikaru—the closest thing to security personnel on this blissfully peaceful planet—in the rear. Pavel turns back to him once to see his reaction to being kept here after a gruelingly long day, when they all have perfectly good, soft beds waiting up on the Enterprise, but Hikaru only shrugs. Of course, he probably would like to stay. The alien atmosphere seems to make for some particularly bizarre plants that Hikaru eyes enviously every time he passes one. Just as Pavel thinks it, they turn the corner to walk down a pink-coral-lined corridor. Behind Pavel, Hikaru whispers, “Do you think they’d let me take a small sample of one of these back to the Enterprise?”

Keeping his voice down so as not to rouse the main party head, Pavel returns over his shoulder, “I think they vould let you have anything you like; it is Meester Spock you vould have to contend with.” Hikaru groans in understanding. 

Another turn, and the party all stops, the bulbous creature before them pressing one tentacle against the wall. A rounded door pops inward and slides over, and the alien gestures through the opening it leaves, trilling, “Your sleeping chamber, friends. May your night be clean and devoid of seagulls.”

Pavel looks at Hikaru again, who looks just as confused, and Mr. Spock leans discreetly forward, gently correcting the alien. “I believe the term is bedbugs.”

“Ah, yes,” the translator whizzes. “Those. This one understands.” Whether or not xe really does will probably remain one of the universe’s great mysteries.

Before they can ask anymore, their host makes off down the corridor at the same leisurely pace xe’s moved at all day through their tour. In hir absence, the party turns to Captain Kirk, who steps studiously into the room. 

Following the others, Pavel does so, too, belatedly getting a proper view at what the room _really_ is.

It’s a cloud. 

The room itself is a cave-like structure, like all of this settlement, carved out of crystal and opaque though multi-toned and shimmering. But the floor is made of what appears to be fluffy white clouds, or at least, the clouds obscure any bottom. The ground beneath Pavel’s feet doesn’t feel entirely stable. It certainly isn’t solid or hard. It’s like he’s standing on more cloud, and though his boots sink a little way in, it seems to support him. He spends a good, long time staring down in bewilderment, before Dr. McCoy snorts, “Jim, we’re not really going to sleep here.”

“Oh, yes we are, Bones.” Captain Kirk has a big grin on his face while he says it, as though his friend’s disgruntled reaction has only added to his own good-humoured one. He takes a few steps out into the middle, then gingerly sits down, sinking into the soft fog-like substance with a small, “Oomf.” Grinning back at his party, he announces, “It’s comfortable.”

Mr. Spock utters only, “Fascinating.”

“Fascinating?” Dr. McCoy repeats. “It’s damn odd, is what it is! We’re just all supposed to sleep here together? Like some communal demigod collection?”

“It is comfy,” Hikaru notes, having walked past Pavel to sit down near one wall. Dr. McCoy shakes his head, but the others have already given in. While Pavel continues to shift his feet in the strange flooring, Mr. Spock drifts over to the outstretched arm of their captain, who helps lower them down. Despite his grumbles, Dr. McCoy still comes to his other side. 

Pavel, seeing their example, figures it’s safe to go right to Hikaru’s side. It feels a bit strange to do so in public, but he keeps the blush out of his cheeks, because they’re apparently _supposed_ to be sharing a makeshift bed, and his superior officers got too close first. 

As he settles down next to Hikaru, Hikaru teases, “So, which part of Russia is this like?”

Pavel wrinkles his nose and sticks out his tongue, because for once in his life, he wasn’t going to say anything about Russia at all. He’s finally found a planet entirely different. 

The captain’s group lies down first, with respectable space between them, though it’s still an odd sight. Pavel wonders vaguely if this gives him the right to brag about sharing the illustrious Captain Kirk’s bed. Once he’s lowered himself onto the surprisingly soft bedding, he asks loud enough to carry, “But how do we turn the lights off?”

“Maybe they sleep in the light here?” Hikaru suggests. 

But Captain Kirk orders the room in general: “Lights off.”

And the crystals, bizarrely enough, dim in unison, until the cave is nearly pitch black, only casting a very, very faint blue glow across the fluffy surface. Pavel’s eyes take a second to adjust to the dark. He lies on his back, staring up, noting how strange it feels to sleep in his uniform and boots on an insubstantial mattress with his commanding officers close by. 

Having Hikaru near him doesn’t seem unnatural at all. At least that part is comforting. The strangest part of all might be the lack of a blanket, which makes him squirm at first. The room is pleasantly warm, so that isn’t an issue, but not being _covered_ is a nearly intolerable situation, and he keeps shifting to get comfortable, until Hikaru hisses from his side, “Stop fidgeting.”

“I need a blanket,” Pavel grumbles, equally quiet. Then he wonders if the silence across the way means the others, after such a long, impressive day, are already asleep, and if any of them snore. Dr. McCoy strikes Pavel as a snore-r, though he’d be the most interested to know if Mr. Spock did. If Captain Kirk snores, it’ll probably be only in a very majestic way.

Hikaru, from what Pavel can tell, isn’t moving at all and isn’t asleep. He’s lying flat on his back, eyes glinting through the darkness at Pavel while Pavel alternatively rolls away and back again. 

Finally, Hikaru grumbles, “Oh, come here,” and reaches out his arms. They wrap around Pavel, clinging to Pavel’s uniform, and draw him closer, Pavel wading through the clouds like water. He’s pulled right up to Hikaru’s side with a small, startled noise, and Hikaru whispers, “Shh,” like soothing a horse. One of his legs drapes over Pavel’s, and both arms wrap around his body, easing him in close. Pavel feels himself gravitating to the heat of Hikaru’s body and the familiar scent, and before he knows it, he’s intertwined with Hikaru’s being, his head nuzzled into the crook of Hikaru’s shoulder. 

He supposes they’re far enough away through too much darkness for the others to see, but it’s still a little embarrassing. He hides his blush in Hikaru’s neck, and Hikaru lifts a hand to pet softly through his hair. Hikaru’s better than a blanket. Pavel cuddles into him on instinct and lets Hikaru’s skin stifle his yawn. 

He’s drifting off to sleep too easily. The last thing he hears before he gives way to dreams is Dr. McCoy’s voice grumbling, “Damnit. Okay, it’s comfy.”


End file.
